Correlation between plasma lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 levels and risk of ischaemic stroke recurrence by gender in the Chinese population.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation between gender differences in plasma lipoprotein phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) levels and the risk of recurrent stroke in patients with acute ischaemic stroke in China. METHODS: We conducted a prospective follow-up study that included baselineLp-PLA2 levels and NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores in patients with ischaemic stroke upon admission. The diagnostic efficacy of the baseline Lp-PLA2 level for stroke recurrence was evaluated. And Kaplan‒Meier method was used to analyse the difference in the risk of recurrent stroke between these two groups among males and females. A paired t test was used to analyse the difference in Lp-PLA2 levels in male and female patients after follow-up. RESULTS: Baseline plasma Lp-PLA2 was higher in men and women with recurrent stroke than in those without recurrent stroke. The correlation between baseline Lp-PLA2 and neurological impairment was higher in female than male stroke patients (R = 0.338 and 0.253, respectively). Although weakly correlated with neurological impairment, baseline Lp-PLA2 was more effective in predicting recurrent stroke (AUC = 0.705 in men, 0.788 in women). A Cox model was used to compare the risk of stroke between the high- and low-Lp-PLA2 groups (OR = 3.98 in men, 2.61 in women). According to the follow-up time of 6 months as the node, Lp-PLA2 will give different risk indicators. CONCLUSION: Elevated plasma Lp-PLA2 is an independent risk factor for recurrent ischaemic stroke but is not strongly associated with the degree of cerebral damage. The predictive value of baseline Lp-PLA2 for stroke recurrence risk was higher in females than in males.

Medium-Entropy-Alloy FeCoNi Enables Lithium-Sulfur Batteries with Superb Low-Temperature Performance.

Lithium-sulfur battery suffers from sluggish kinetics at low temperatures, resulting in serious polarization and reduced capacity. Here, this work introduces medium-entropy-alloy FeCoNi as catalysts and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as hosts. FeCoNi nanoparticles are in suit synthesized in cotton-derived CNFs. FeCoNi with atomic-level mixing of each element can effectively modulate lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), multiple components making them promising to catalyze more LiPSs species. The higher configurational entropy endows FeCoNi@CNFs with extraordinary electrochemical activity, corrosion resistance, and mechanical properties. The fractal structure of CNFs provides a large specific surface area, leaving room for volume expansion and Li2 S accumulation, facilitating electrolyte wetting. The unique 3D conductive network structure can suppress the shuttle effect by physicochemical adsorption of LiPSs. This work systematically evaluates the performance of the obtained Li2 S6 /FeCoNi@CNFs electrode. The initial discharge capacity of Li2 S6 /FeCoNi@CNFs reaches 1670.8 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C under -20 °C. After 100 cycles at 0.2 C, the capacity decreases from 1462.3 to 1250.1 mAh g-1 . Notably, even under -40 °C at 0.1 C, the initial discharge capacity of Li2 S6 /FeCoNi@CNFs still reaches 1202.8 mAh g-1 . After 100 cycles at 0.2 C, the capacity retention rate is 50%. This work has important implications for the development of low-temperature Li-S batteries.

Rational construction of a CNTs@VO2 nanosheets modified separator for enhancing the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries.

Although lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries possess great potential to become the next generation of energy storage technology due to their fivefold higher energy density than commercial lithium-ion batteries, their practical application is still hindered by their poor cycling stability, especially resulting from the disturbing shuttle effect of soluble intermediates. In this study, vanadium dioxide (VO2) nanosheets were successfully grown onto CNTs to form CNTs@VO2 through hydrothermal and calcining processes. The hollow structure of the high conductive CNTs offers internal space and mesopores to accommodate the electrolyte combined with the polar metal oxide VO2 nanosheets providing the chemical anchoring. The hollow binary core-shell host acting as the nanoreactor that serves as the modifier of the separator results in the intensive physical and chemical dual adsorption of lithium polysulfide species (LiPSs), promoting the conversion of long-chain LiPSs to alleviate the shuttle effect significantly and boosting the performance. In addition, the CNTs enhance the electronic conductivity and the electrolyte infiltration of the separator. Notably, the modified separator demonstrates a high initial discharge capacity of 1397 mA h g-1 at 0.2C and retains a stable cycling ability with a reversible capacity of 965 mA h g-1 over 200 cycles at 1C. Even for the high sulfur loading of 7.4 mg cm-2, it can deliver a high areal capacity of 5.4 mA h cm-2 at 0.5C.